


Someone To Watch Over Me

by unsentpromises



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aunt Peggy, Family Dynamics, Mental Health Issues, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 01:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3272159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsentpromises/pseuds/unsentpromises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Come in." </p>
<p>And just like that, hearing her voice a small part of Tony is reminded of days years ago hiding behind Jarvis when he'd been introduced to Agent Carter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone To Watch Over Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missbecky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbecky/gifts).



> This is a companion one-shot based on story by missbecky called The Other Side of the Story was you all should read. 
> 
> You can do there here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3264197

After setting the potted daffodils on the desk beside the sign-in book Tony jots his initials down so he can be granted his visitors pass. He's in a good mood today, a tune stuck in his head that he couldn't quite remember the name of but makes him want to tap his toes. Comfortably dressed in jeans and a soft, worn Pink Floyd tee he isn't as recognizable to just anyone. 

"She's having one of her bad days." The nurse behind the desk, Abigale as the name tag reads, warns him.

His toes don't want to tap and the little diddy in his head quiets. Peggy has her bad days when she can't remember where she is or who anyone is and they break Tony's heart. It's always up in the air if being there makes things better or worse. Tony knows what it's like to be surrounded by uncertainty and paranoid of every shadow in the room. But seeing Peggy's bad days make him long for the future of his where he dies in the suit, in a blaze of glory not trapped in his body while his mind wastes away. Most of all Peggy makes him wish he could fix it all.

Lifting the flowers he nods. "Thanks." 

Abigale just nods and offers him a sympathetic smile before he walks off down the corridor.

Tony likes the staff here, it's half the reason he kind of insisted on this particular home. They look after their patients and have compassion in the process. Her family hadn't fought too hard when he's insisted on paying for her care, not with the money he had. Or maybe it had been how he'd asked because he'd owed his Aunt Peggy that much.

The smell of antiseptic is tamed with mostly artificial air fresheners, but it's better than nothing. Tony counts tiles as he goes, bracing himself for the possibility that today Peggy will look at him and see Howard. If it were anyone else Tony wouldn't entertain the facade, but for her he will and has before. Worse are the days she looks at him and bursts into anxious tears, telling him she can't remember where she is. It makes him wish he'd brought along some reading, on the days she is most anxious and displaced it helps to take her mind off of more immediate worries sometimes. But he does not have a faded copy of Walt Whitman's under his arm today.

Closing his eyes Tony reminds himself bad days can turn into good ones in a voice that sounds suspiciously like Pepper. It's enough to coax a weak twitch of a smile from him as he knocks on the door.

"Come in." 

And just like that, hearing her voice a small part of Tony is reminded of days years ago hiding behind Jarvis when he'd been introduced to Agent Carter. She had been nothing like his mother but comforting in the faint smell of flowers and pressed powder. Tony had never minded a woman in red lipstick in all his days and he suspects his taste for such things began then with a sincere, ruby smile. 

Holding out the flowers ahead of him Tony edges into the room looking as uncertain as he feels because he doesn't have anything to hide here. This woman has seen him at his worst and never treated him as anything but a boy looked upon with fondness. Peggy draws out a bit of his honest, playful behavior. It usually pays off because already Tony can see the way her eyes glint in amusement as they always have. It reminds him of Jarvis's exasperated voice while they both stifle giggles. 

"How do you feel about flowers?" Tony doesn't know where he is going with this exactly, but he can try.

"That would depend upon the nature of the delivery." Coy and playful herself Peggy looks a little tired. Her hair is pinned up and not curled like she favors it still. Her lips look chapped but her hands are resting in her lap while she sits up taking him in.

Considering the words Tony eyes the pot of daffodils. "I thought I should give them to someone who would appreciate them."

"That's a fair delivery I think. Perhaps you should bring them to who you meant to give them."

"They're having a bit of a bad day and I don't think they'll appreciate them, like I said. Don't want them to go to waste so.." He's always been a little anxious about presenting Peggy with anything since he was a boy.

"Charmer aren't you?" 

Tony can't help a grin to hear the chuckle in the words. "Only with the pretty ones." His grin only grows at her soft laugh.

"That's quite enough. I'll accept if only to get you to stop looking so pleased with yourself young man." Peggy isn't certain why she's calling a grown man such a thing, as if he were a little boy at his mother's skirt.

Tony sets them down on the table beside her bed, clearly visible with their bright red ribbon. He can spot the hesitation on Peggy's face like she knows there is more to this than a stranger wandering into her room to be charming, but her good nature cannot bring out the question to ask. Before she can think on it too long Tony sits in the chair at the side of her bed.

"Yes ma'am." Tony doesn't need to try for sheepish when he smiles. "I'm a little too much of a coward to be upfront about it and ask them to take it. Bad day." He pauses to see Peggy nod indulgently, but not without empathy. "But I wanted to stick around in case they might want company after all."

"That's very kind of you."

Ducking his head down Tony can't help a sad sort of smile. Peggy's voice is warm as she says it because she's always been the type to find kindness in too short a supply in the world. "Not really...I mean...they're worth it." Every memory he has to Peggy stopping by around Christmas with something small and a kiss to offer would be enough to make him try to give something back. Let alone the letters at board school in the beginning and the books he still has sitting in his bedroom bookcase, short notes written on inside covers. "We're not...family but we're close enough."

If Tony's eyes feel a bit damp Peggy has the good grace to say nothing about it. "I don't suppose you're going to introduce yourself."

Raising a hand to rub quickly over his mouth he nods, dampness in his eyes forgotten. Jarvis would have clicked his tongue about his manners if he were there. "I'm Anthony. People usually call me Tony though, less of a mouthful."

"And which do you prefer?" Because even on her off days she isn't not herself. 

"I'm okay with either really." Which isn't a lie concerning her. Peg had called him Anthony plenty enough it has a strange nostalgia that makes him feel easy and foolish all at once. 

"I like the sound of Anthony myself. More distinguished." 

"Well I am pretty distinguished." Tony just grins up at her when she laughs at that. He doesn't ask for her name in return aware she might not know it. She doesn't offer it either which makes him think it escapes her today. 

Instead Tony spots her nails in her lap and considers a moment. There's a bottle of nail varnish visible on the bedside table and Peggy's nails are in need of a new coat. There are chips and scratches on the current red covering her nails. "I've got the time..." And he has to weigh how to offer. "..and I've got some pretty steady hands. If you were interested in a little manicure from flower bearing strangers."

"I don't think you're a stranger dear." Peggy has a knowing look on her face and Tony can't lie to her.

Instead he shrugs. 

But Peggy has never let him avoid answering when she wanted one. Her hand closes around his, just a little too cool to the touch. Meeting her eye he nods because he can't quite explain to her the position they're both in here. He has spent days trying to remind her of who she is for her to believe none of it. Tony hates those days because she is so miserable and lost. 

"I thought so." After another squeeze to his hand Peggy looks him over. "I recall an invitation to a manicure."

Without hesitating Tony picks up the glass container of varnish to shake it up to mix the pigment properly. He's done this before with Pepper mostly and the once with Darcy Lewis when she'd visited along with Jane Foster in New York. It only takes a little puttering around to find what he can use to manage to get the job done. Some tissues and polish remover is enough to clean her nails with.

It is while he's in the middle of removing the old layer of polish that she speaks up.

"I'm pleased I happen to be worth it." 

Eyes a little too intent on his task Tony wipes at the red until it's eaten away, wiping the nail down after to take away the residue so the polish won't apply unevenly. He is relieved she doesn't elaborate further on the point, able to feel discomfort just from her affectionate tone alone. Still he's careful when he holds her hand and idly squeezes and pulls gently to loosen up the joints. He's taken a few lessons from physical therapists over the years with his own hands to know how to relieved some of the aches years of overuse can do. It pays off at times like these more than when he's alone and frustrated in his lab.

Peggy is looking at him curiously when he catches her eye again. He flashes something of a nervous smile.

Maybe it's his nerves but before he can think better of it Tony finds he's telling her a slightly edited version of his own history. There's nothing impressive or glamorous about the early years so he glosses over them perhaps a little too much. It's when he gets to the creation of Iron Man that the details creep into his narration. It's something that to most people would be too fantastic a story to consider reality. 

All the while he slowly goes through the process of painting Peggy's nails with the promised steady hand. It looks far more fitting when he's finished. 

"That's quite a story." Peggy doesn't seem the least be unsettled with talk about a suit of technological armor that can fly. "Does it have a happy ending I wonder."

"Still working on it." Tony admits. Because he's at a point where everything hangs in the air unfinished. 

"I'd like to hear that."

"Promise I'll come back and tell you when I figure it out." And he will. Even if she won't remember because promises mattered. Peggy had never made a promise to him that she had not kept, and he can at least do her the same justice.

"I will hold you to that Anthony." 

"Expect nothing less."

His phone rings and Tony gives a peevish look at his pocket for interrupting. Uncertain as he feels about how well his company will continue to go over he wants to stay. Peggy isn't having the worst of her days and he is thankful for them when they happen. But it's Pepper's ringtone and she knows where he is. She knows better than to call without a reason. JARVIS would deal with anything else for him right now which means it's important.

"Go ahead." Peggy tells him.

"It can wait."

Shaking her head Peggy eyes him. "That look on your face says otherwise. Go ahead. I don't think I'll be going anywhere and you've made that promise already."

Hesitating Tony looks at her on the bed, alone and brighter than she was when he came in. "I'm sorry-"

"Life gets in the way of all kinds of plans Anthony. I can hardly hold you accountable for that." 

Sometimes it's frustrating when Peggy is so herself on him, but Tony can hardly find it in him to ever really mind. Even as a boy any of his fits of displeasure with her melted away quickly. "I did promise."

"You did. Now go ahead." She's not shooing him, but she isn't coddling him either.

Rising to his feet Tony leans over then stops short. Peggy doesn't quite remember him even if she's feeling indulgent or fond enough to let him stick around and do her small favors. He doesn't know quite how to ask if it's alright for him to kiss her goodbye. 

"Oh honestly." But there's a huff of amusement to the words. "Get down here."

Going along Tony leans down and feels a brush of capped lips against his cheek.

"Thank you for the flowers, Anthony."

Clumsily Tony presses a kiss on her cheek before he straightens up. His phone rings again in his pocket by the time he backs away from the bed. Something is going on that needs his attention and Tony feels guilty he can't stay longer because he gets so little time to visit already. 

"What do you want me to bring next time I visit?"

"That happy ending." And they both know that isn't what Tony means.

And he can't help but laugh at the evasion. Peggy had always been good about navigating her way through a conversation with the best of them and then some. "Alright I'll just bring the entire flower shop next time I stop by." Not that he actually would because that level of extravagance wouldn't be appreciated, but he could maybe buy enough so every patient got something instead. 

On his way out the door he can hear Peggy laughing at his threat. Pulling out his phone Tony smiles to himself to see just what Pepper wants.


End file.
